The Center’s Moosehead Outdoor Recreation Strategy leads to trail stewardship work.

“I like being out and not even hearing traffic,” said Summer Neylon from the base of the old fire tower atop Williams Mountain near Maine’s Moosehead Lake region.  

Neylon is the crew leader for a Maine Conservation Corps team conducting five weeks of stewardship and maintenance work on easement trails managed by Maine’s Bureau of Parks and Lands (BPL).  

“This isn’t the career I expected to get into,” Neylon said. “Now I’ve met so many people that really enjoy getting out into the wild into the rural areas in different states, and it’s just a great opportunity to be somewhere that isn’t built up.” 

The project is implementing one of the core strategies identified in the Moosehead Outdoor Recreation Investment Strategy (MORIS) developed by the Northern Forest Center and local partners in 2025: Invest in resource stewardship to ensure “long-term environmental stewardship of recreational infrastructure and stabilization of overused assets.” 

“BPL realizes that maintenance is an important part of keeping up with our trails, and some of these have lacked maintenance for several years,” said Bill Beeaker, recreation specialist with Maine BPL. “The Northern Forest Center stepped forward to help pay for this and, going forward next summer and years after, we’re hoping to leverage that funding to match some RTP (recreational trails program) grants for continued maintenance of trail on BPL property.” 

Work by the MCC crew is one of several MORIS-identified projects currently underway in the Moosehead Lake region. The Center is providing technical and financial support to local projects through a partnership with the Richard King Mellon Foundation. 

“There’s a lot more in Maine than in most states I’ve been too,” Neylon said. “Just a lot more infrastructure for outdoorsy people, and that is already an amazing opportunity. Then to have something up here where you’re not gonna run into a million people — it’s awesome.”